ACW Grand Tactical Rules

[pierre the shy]

Welcome to the forum Waremblem 

If you want some "different" ACW rules that emphise unit abilities what about Sam Mustafa's "Longstreet" set? They are card driven and so do not have any "DBx factor" in them and appear to be about the scale of battle that you are after?

I have never played ACW myself but his "Rommel" and other rules sets seem well regarded.

Good luck in your search.   

Cheers
Peter

[paulr]

The search for the perfect rules is a difficult one and it can be very hard to tell from videos, reviews and even reading the rules. These can at best give you a short list

The best way is to narrow this down is to try a few games and Fred's suggestion is a really good way to do that and avoid the risk of having to rebase

We played these games with cardboard counters using the top down images from junior general. These were a good choice for trying the rules I think it only took me an evening to do two armies.

It seems several of you struggle with the same issues so maybe it is finding which set of rules you find something that really pops and others elements that you can live with.

This is very true, there is also the option of using house rules to deal with things that you struggle to live with

There are unicorns out there, For King & Parliament, for the ECW being one recent example

[hammurabi70]

My last ACW experience was PICKETT’S CHARGE, I was impressed.

[Nick the Lemming]

The search for the perfect rules is a difficult one.

And even when you've found one, the next person might think they're complete arse - you can never appeal to everyone, and so unfortunately you have to go by trial and error, at least initially, until you just listen to me find other people wh seem to be on a similar wavelength.

There are unicorns out there, For King & Parliament, for the ECW being one recent example

Case in point - I wouldn't wish FK&P on my worst enemy!

[Aksu]

Hullo,
I’ve played Longstreet (a lot) and Pickett’s Charge - very different to each other and very tactical in scale both. Longstreet is fun mayhem and PC is much more ”normal” and slower. I’ve also played some Altar of Freedom which I liked, some BBB which I liked a lot, and quite a bit of Fire and Fury which I found a bit Fiddly  and Frustrating. I’d recommend BBB for similar mechanics but much more manageable for large battles. For small battles, 1v1 or multiplayer (brigade per player) I happen to like Longstreet, but Pickett’s Charge is also nice for detail heavy games.
Cheers,
Aksu

[Waremblem]

Is there an ACW scenario book for BBB?

[Chris Pringle]

Thank you to all who have kindly mentioned BBB favourably.

There is no ACW book but there are scenarios for many ACW battles freely available from the BBB groups.io files:
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
Look in the 1861 ACW folder:
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles/files/1861%20American%20Civil%20War

You will find plenty of batreps on my BBBBlog to give you a sense of how the games go for us. In fact, my most recent post was about using BBB on Roll20 to fight First Bull Run remotely:
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2020/07/remote-wargaming-on-roll20.html

There's no 'official' BBB video, but noted BBB enthusiast and Balkan Wars author Prof Konstantinos Travlos has done quite a few of his group fighting BBB battles (including some ACW ones), and one he did specifically as an intro to the game:
https://phdleadhead.blogspot.com/2019/04/introduction-to-bloody-big-battles.html

Hope this helps!
Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/

[pierre the shy]

And even when you've found one, the next person might think they're complete arse - you can never appeal to everyone, and so unfortunately you have to go by trial and error, at least initially, until you just listen to me find other people wh seem to be on a similar wavelength.

Case in point - I wouldn't wish FK&P on my worst enemy!

As you say Nick, one mans trash is another man's treasure .....after a long search for a sutiable set of ECW era rules FK&P have become our group's go-to set - I really love them   

[mollinary]

Thanks Pierre, it is nice to have supporters!   Sorry to hear Nick hates them so much, I wonder why?

[T13A]

Hi

FK&P, best ECW rules I have used and I go some way back!

Cheers Paul

[Waremblem]

Thank you to all who have kindly mentioned BBB favourably.

There is no ACW book but there are scenarios for many ACW battles freely available from the BBB groups.io files:
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
Look in the 1861 ACW folder:
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles/files/1861%20American%20Civil%20War

You will find plenty of batreps on my BBBBlog to give you a sense of how the games go for us. In fact, my most recent post was about using BBB on Roll20 to fight First Bull Run remotely:
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2020/07/remote-wargaming-on-roll20.html

There's no 'official' BBB video, but noted BBB enthusiast and Balkan Wars author Prof Konstantinos Travlos has done quite a few of his group fighting BBB battles (including some ACW ones), and one he did specifically as an intro to the game:
https://phdleadhead.blogspot.com/2019/04/introduction-to-bloody-big-battles.html

Hope this helps!
Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/

Thank you for the links, Chris. I'll give them a look.

[robh]

Altar of Freedom are not "generic" rules, they are very specific and feel different to something like Napoleons Battles or Grande Armee Napoleonics.  We played them a few times until one of our players (a tournament style player) worked out the strange initiative/activation subgame AoF uses and proceeded to show us how to ruin a game
Needless to say the rules did not come out again.  It is a novel mechanism and if your group are all "fun is important winning isn't" type gamers you may enjoy AoF.

[DaveH]

Looking at AoF I think my biggest reservation is that it doesn't seem to be particularly solo suitable. How is BBB for solo players?

[mmcv]

Looking at AoF I think my biggest reservation is that it doesn't seem to be particularly solo suitable. How is BBB for solo players?

I've played BBB solo and it worked fairly well. Most scenarios have a few conditional rules and options to play out historical or what if outcomes and theres enough friction and decisions to make to keep things interesting.  There's a fairly active BBB community on groups.io with new scenarios uploaded for free as well.

[Chris Pringle]

Looking at AoF I think my biggest reservation is that it doesn't seem to be particularly solo suitable. How is BBB for solo players?

Thanks for the question, DaveH. BBB got rated 'Highly recommended' by Paul Le Long reviewing it in 'Lone Warrior', the journal of the Solo Wargamers' Association:
http://lonewarriorswa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Bloody-Big-Battles-rules.pdf

My own musings on solo gaming are on the BBBBlog:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2016/06/solo-wargaming.html
I suppose my key point is 'the movement rolls provide an element of unpredictability that helps to make solo play interesting'.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles